Nitrobenzene
by MiyuTanemura
Summary: Benzene Series 2. "The only thing that they seemed to have in common was sadness." Drabble. AU. Gray-centric


**A/N:** Another scene, from another time.

Hm, I wonder if it makes sense...

* * *

 **Nitrobenzene**

Closing the door softly behind himself, Gray stepped into his room, leaving the lights out for the moment.

He looked to his bed, saw the moonlight bathing its feet, turning the dark blue of the comforter into a silver-grey tint. It was just a trick of the light but Gray enjoyed that sort of thing. Sometimes it had him clashing head-on with his siblings but, hey, having siblings and not bickering with them would be too boring.

Also, thinking about that sort of things would also take his mind off the matters he didn't exactly want to think about.

It had happened before.

And that was another thing Gray didn't want to think about. His parents and the… _accident_ … it all hurt too much still.

Yet…

It was odd.

Why did all of those new students suddenly appear at school?

It had never happened, as far as Gray recalled – and he'd been attending that school for quite a while already – to have a new batch of students appearing. Also, they were all attending the same class? Despite the age differences?

It was a mystery, for sure.

With sure strides, Gray walked towards the bed and let himself fall on it, the muffled noise of the covers and the slight creak of the wood had him sitting up, noticing that the silvery light was now falling over his legs, the black cloth seemingly like gossamer.

Gray flopped down onto his back. He sighed, frowning towards the window frame above his bed, the moon hidden from his vantage point.

He didn't want to think about it but somehow couldn't stop thinking about that one person who seemed to be aside from the others. Could it be the hair? Sure, pink was an unusual colour but in that group there was a lot of diversity, in hairs, sizes…

The only thing that they seemed to have in common was _sadness_.

There was a cloud of sadness hanging above them, thick and low, nearly suffocating. Lucy had mentioned how it felt like there was an aftertaste clogging the back of her throat after they passed by them. The sadness trying to cling to everyone who came _too close_.

Gray startled when loud banging came from his door.

"Don't forget to do your homework before bed." Ultear's voice came from the other side, strangely crisp.

"I will." Gray replied in an annoyed voice. He pushed himself off the bed, and walked to his desk, turning on the desk lamp. He grabbed the many notebooks and books from his bag, plucked a pencil from the garishly painted mug that had been a gift from Lucy and Erza (he still hadn't deciphered the strange scribblings that ran throughout the ceramic, sometimes clear and sometimes as a blur behind the colours. The girls had said that it was _his_ handwriting and if that was so, he really, _really_ needed to practice it into readable form.

Distractedly, he twirled the pencil in his fingers, opening the history notebook. There were worse things for him to be doing but at the same time, he would rather be looking for his work with the ice. He felt the magic beckon from his core.

And still, the new students – and specially, the pink-haired one – didn't seem to leave his mind. Who cared about the story of how the bad forms of magic were eradicated or the protection of magic-bearers from the normal people when there was such a mystery waiting to be solved?

Gray threw the pencil down and stretched, leaning back on the chair. Maybe Juvia had been right when she'd told him how much attention he was paying to the new weirdos. They were in a different class, they didn't seem welcoming of the other students – heck, they didn't even seem welcoming among each other, sometimes it seemed – and so, they only had to go on with their lives.

And she was right, Gray supposed.

He had quite a bit on his plate already – and Lyon was being a smartass because of the play the school was preparing. Lucy and Levy were writing the story and every class was supposed to help with something. Gray had only hoped that he wasn't called to be one of the actors – which was precisely what Lyon was, and he was gloating around the house.

Gray wanted revenge but Ur had expressly forbidden their wars inside the house.

He stood and walked to the window, looking at the trees outside. In the light of the full moon it was easy to see how they were blooming, in the morning the sweet scent was a companion on his way to school. So that meant that the season to go watch the cherry blossoms was close too.

Cherry blossoms made him think of pink.

Pink led him to the pink head (and what was his name, again? Something to do with the seasons too… he would remember soon…)

And that wasn't where he wanted his mind to go to. _Again_.

Gray threw himself onto the bed and let out a frustrated yell into the pillow.

It was going to be a long night…


End file.
